Official rulebook

Keepers’ Dissension

Everything you need to play Keepers’ Dissension: Unchained, from setup and actions to every Minion, Ultimate and Keeper Ability Card. Tap a topic to open it.

Getting StartedCore GameplayThe Board & PiecesAbilitiesGame Modes & SpectatingGlossary

Getting Started

What the game is, and how the board comes to life before the first move.

New player? Start here!Orientation for new and returning players.

Keepers’ Dissension is a two-player tactical battle played on a 7×7 grid. Each player commands an army led by a Keeper, defends a LifeForce, and spends Strange Matter to buy Abilities, Minions, and Walls. The first player to destroy the enemy LifeForce wins.

Every key term is defined in the Glossary at the end of this page.

The shape of a match

Players alternate turns. On your turn you take up to 3 Actions — moving, attacking, using Abilities, gathering Strange Matter, buying, or handing off Loot. During your opponent’s turn, your Warriors may gain Responses if they are attacked and survive, allowing them to respond within your opponent’s turn!

How a match ends

Matches end when a LifeForce falls.

Game SetupPlacing LifeForces, Guardians, Keepers, Minions, Ultimates, Walls, and cards.

Before gameplay begins, the app and players complete setup together. The app handles the fixed starting pieces first, and then players place their Keepers and Minions according to the setup sequence.

An example starting board with five selected Minions per player: LifeForces in the center, Keepers beside them, Guardians on the row ahead, and the starting Walls across row 4.

Player Sides and Turn Order

The player who goes first is always assigned the row-1 side of the Battlefield:

• First player LifeForce D1, Guardian D2
• Second player LifeForce D7, Guardian D6

If a Private match changes who goes first, that also changes which player takes the row-1 side.

LifeForce and Guardian Placement

The app places each player’s LifeForce in the center space of that player’s LifeForce row, and each Guardian in the center space of that player’s Guardian row. The Guardian starting position is fixed — players do not choose a Guardian anchor.

Keeper Placement

After the LifeForces and Guardians are placed, players place their Keepers. The first player chooses a legal space adjacent to D1 on row 1; the second player then chooses a legal LifeForce-row space on row 7.

Starting Minion Selection

Each player explicitly chooses which Minions begin the match on the Battlefield. Minions not chosen stay in the Assembly and may enter later through purchase, summon, or another legal effect.

Minion Placement

The first player places one Minion at A1. The second player then places two Minions, beginning at A7. Players continue alternating two Minions at a time. If a player has only one selected starting Minion left, they place just that one.

Each placement uses the next legal unoccupied space to the right on that player's LifeForce row. Skip occupied or otherwise unavailable spaces independently on each row; an unavailable space does not cancel a placement.

Continue until all selected starting Minions are placed or no legal setup spaces remain.

First player places one; then players alternate pairs. With five Minions each, the turns are one, two, two, two, two, one. Each row advances rightward independently, skipping unavailable spaces.

Ultimate Ability and Wall Effect Selection

After all Minions are placed, the first player chooses their Keeper Ultimate Ability and Wall Effect. Then the second player chooses theirs.

The chosen Ultimate belongs to that player’s Keeper for the rest of the match, regardless of faction, and may be used only once per game. The selected Wall Effects determine what wall behavior occurs when a wall is destroyed during gameplay.

After both players choose their Wall Effects, the app creates the starting Wall row. The entire starting Wall row belongs to the second player and carries the second player’s selected Wall Effect. Starting Wall ownership is not determined by profile or faction.

Ability Card Setup

Ability Card setup depends on the selected gamemode and card setup style. In Calculated setup, players use a draft card setup. In Chaotic setup, each player receives 7 random private ability cards, and a shared hand Ability Deck, all pulled from 70 unique Keeper Ability Cards.

In modes that allow custom settings, such as Quickplay or Private, the host or selected settings determine whether the match uses Calculated or Chaotic card setup.

Starting the Game

Once all setup steps are complete, gameplay begins. The player who goes first is typically the less experienced player, unless a Private match setting chooses otherwise.

Core Gameplay

Actions, movement, attacks, responses, and how simultaneous events resolve.

ActionsUp to 3 actions per turn: move, attack, use abilities, gather, buy, hand off Loot — plus the repeated-turn penalty.

Each player may take up to 3 actions per turn. The main types of actions are Move, Attack, Use Abilities, Acquire Strange Matter from the Economy, Purchase Items using Strange Matter, and hand off Loot.

Movement

When moving, all Warriors — Minions, Keepers, and Guardians — may move 1 space forward, backward, or sideways for each action spent. This changes only if an Ability changes that Warrior’s Speed. Speed determines how many spaces a Warrior may move per action.

Warriors may not move diagonally unless an Ability specifically allows it. A Warrior may also switch places with an adjacent allied Warrior by spending 2 actions. Switching can only occur when a Warrior is adjacent to another friendly Warrior, and is limited to one speed for that Warrior. Warriors may move only through or onto spaces they are legally allowed to occupy.

Purchasing Minions

A purchased Minion is Placed using this priority:

1. Any legal destination on the player’s LifeForce row.
2. If none exists, any legal destination on the Guardian row.
3. Continue row by row toward the center until reaching the first row that contains at least one legal destination.

Within that first valid row the player chooses any legal destination, but a nearer row that contains a legal destination may not be skipped. A legal destination may include a Portal, a Void, or a Wall the Minion can legally occupy. If no legal placement exists anywhere on the Battlefield, the Minion cannot be purchased.

A Minion placed on the Battlefield by a purchase has Summoning Sickness: it cannot Move, Attack, use its Abilities, switch places, or hand off Loot for the remainder of that turn. It becomes usable at the beginning of its controller’s next turn.

This applies however the Minion reaches the Battlefield — summoned from the Assembly, purchased out of the Graveyard, revived, or resurrected.

Handing Off Loot

A Warrior carrying Loot may spend 1 action to hand off that Loot in a direction it can move. The receiving Warrior must be friendly and can only receive Loot in a direction that both can move. When Loot is handed off, the Loot moves to the receiving Warrior, but neither Warrior changes spaces.

Forced Movement and Battlefield Damage

If a Warrior is attempted to be moved into a space it cannot legally occupy by an outside force, that Warrior receives 1 Battlefield Damage. Battlefield Damage is not an Attack and does not grant a Response.

Walls and the Scale Ability

The Scale Ability allows a Warrior to move onto or off of a Wall. Moving onto a Wall does not require extra Speed. Warriors without Scale cannot move onto Walls. A Wall counts as a single space and may be occupied by a Warrior with Scale. When a Warrior is standing on top of a Wall, both the Wall and the Warrior are treated as occupying that location.

Attacks

A legal Attack may target a Warrior, LifeForce, Wall, Marker, or Bomb, provided that target is otherwise legal. To attack with a Warrior, the target must be within that Warrior’s Range and in a direction the Warrior is allowed to attack. To break a Wall, a Warrior must be adjacent to it and attack it — Walls cannot be attacked at Range. Ordinary Warriors standing between the attacker and a Ranged target neither block the Attack nor add Range cost. A normal Warrior Attack deals Damage equal to that Warrior’s Strength.

Ability Attacks

An Ability is an Attack only if the Ability explicitly says “Attack” or instructs the player to make an Attack. The words “damage,” “deal,” “inflict,” “receive,” “lose Health,” or “destroy” do not make an effect an Attack by themselves. Ground Pound is an Attack because its card says to Attack every space within a 1-space radius. Shockwave, Bombs, Explode, and Wall Effects are not Attacks.

Response Actions

A Warrior receives a Response Action only during the opposing player’s turn. A player cannot receive or take a Response during their own turn. The three Response triggers are: surviving an Attack from an enemy Warrior or enemy attack ability, falling because an enemy Warrior destroyed the Wall underneath it, or being revealed from Stealth because an enemy Warrior attempts to occupy its space. A Warrior receives at most one Response from a single simultaneous event.

Only attacks from enemies may grant Responses. Self-inflicted attacks, attacks against allies, Battlefield Damage, Void, Wall effects, collision damage, direct Health loss, and destroy effects do not grant Responses.

Repeated Turns

Stalling is punished rather than allowed to stand. Repetition is tracked separately for each player.

Two things are checked as each of your turns ends, and either one grows your streak.

What you did. Your turn is compared against your own previous two turns — the actions taken, the Warriors involved, and the spaces used. This is why moving a Warrior somewhere and then moving it straight back still counts: a two-turn loop is caught just as a repeated single turn is.

Where it left the board. The whole board is also remembered as your last eight turns left it. Arriving back at a position the board has already been in means everything you did since changed nothing, however different each turn looked on its own — so a longer lap, like walking a Warrior in a three-space circle, is caught too.

Your streak resets only on a turn that is both new and leaves the board somewhere it has not just been. Real progress does that on its own: a Wall destroyed, Strange Matter collected, a Warrior killed, or a Warrior marched one space further in.

Once the streak reaches 10, the penalty arms and you are warned. From the 11th turn onward, your LifeForce takes 1 Damage for every further repeat.

Ending a turn without taking any actions still counts as a turn and can be part of a streak. The rule applies to every player equally, your opponent included — a bot is held to it exactly as you are.

This rule never produces a draw — Keepers’ Dissension has no draws.

Movement & SpacesLegal movement, switching places, walls, and failed movement.

Movement Overview

Warriors normally move forward, backward, or sideways. Current Speed determines how many spaces a Warrior may move per action; for example, an Unchained Guardian has 2 Speed. Abilities may enhance or alter movement.

A Warrior with 1 Speed may move one space forward, backward, or sideways per action.

Occupied Spaces

Warriors normally move only into unoccupied spaces and do not pass through occupied spaces. Some occupied spaces are exceptions because they are traversable. Portal and Void are examples of traversable occupied spaces — they can be moved through or entered according to their own rules.

Legal Movement

Unless modified by a specific Ability or effect, Warriors may move only into unoccupied spaces and may not pass through occupied spaces. Warriors may not move diagonally unless an Ability or effect allows it. Warriors move only through or onto spaces they are legally allowed to occupy.

Warriors’ typical movement is to move in cardinal directions and not move into occupied spaces such as a wall, unless an ability modifies their movement options, such as strafe or scale do.

Voluntary and Forced Movement

Voluntary Movement is movement a Warrior makes through its own controller’s choice — normal movement, switching places, Leapfrog, and the ramming Warrior’s own advance during Ram.

Forced Movement is movement imposed on a Warrior by an effect, such as the pushed Warrior during Ram.

Movement restrictions apply to voluntary movement unless their text also restricts forced movement.

Switching Places

A Warrior may switch places with an allied Warrior for 2 actions. Switching can only occur when a Warrior is adjacent to a friendly Warrior, and both must be able to legally make that 1-space movement in that direction. The switch counts as 1 space of voluntary movement for each Warrior involved.

Switching places swaps two adjacent allied Warriors for 2 actions.

Slowdown

While affected by Slowdown, a Warrior may move no more than 1 total space through voluntary movement during that turn. Only voluntary movement counts toward the cap — Forced Movement and Placement do not.

A slowed Warrior:

• may make one normal 1-space movement;
• may switch places only if it has not already voluntarily moved that turn;
• cannot use Leapfrog, because Leapfrog changes its position by more than 1 voluntary space;
• may use Ram only if it has not already voluntarily moved that turn — the ramming Warrior’s advance uses its allowance, while the pushed Warrior’s movement is forced;
• may step into an adjacent Portal if the allowance is still available. Entering uses it, but the Portal’s automatic relocation does not count as extra voluntary movement.

The cap applies during any turn, including the opponent’s. A Warrior that voluntarily moves 1 space during a Response cannot voluntarily move again that turn.

Walls and Scale

The Scale Ability allows a Warrior to move onto or off of a Wall, and moving onto a Wall does not require extra Speed. Warriors without Scale cannot move onto Walls. Walls count as a single space. When a Warrior stands on top of a Wall, both the Wall space and the Warrior’s occupied space are taken into account.

With Scale, a Warrior may move onto or off of a Wall at no extra Speed.

Failed or Restricted Movement

If a Warrior is moved by an outside force into a space it cannot legally occupy, that Warrior remains in place and receives 1 Battlefield Damage. Battlefield Damage is not an Attack and does not grant a Response.

A Warrior’s own movement is never punished this way. If a player attempts a move their Warrior cannot legally make, that move simply cannot be taken.

Effects that restrict movement prevent a Warrior from using its own movement, but they do not prevent forced movement unless the effect explicitly states otherwise.

Attacks & ResponsesMelee and ranged attacks, attacking around walls, and the full Response rules.

A legal Attack may target a Warrior, LifeForce, Wall, Marker, or Bomb, provided that target is otherwise legal for the Attack. Portal, Void, Strange Matter, and Loot are not Attack targets unless a rule expressly says so.

A normal Warrior Attack deals Damage equal to the attacking Warrior’s current Strength, unless another effect modifies or replaces that Damage. Normal Attacks are either Melee or Ranged. A Melee Attack targets an adjacent legal target. A Ranged Attack may target a Warrior, LifeForce, Marker, or Bomb beyond melee range — Walls cannot be attacked with Ranged Attacks.

Ordinary Warriors standing between the attacker and a Ranged target do not block the Attack and do not add Range cost.

A Warrior attacks targets within Range, in the directions it is allowed to attack.

Range Direction

Range is the number of spaces a Warrior may attack in a direction that Warrior is allowed to move. Warriors normally attack cardinally; a Warrior with Strafe may also attack diagonally. Radius effects are separate, and a radius includes diagonal spaces.

Attacking From, Onto, or Across Walls

A Warrior standing on a Wall may attack normally. A same-level adjacent target requires 1 Range. A target on a Wall, or a target behind an empty Wall, requires 2 Range. A target behind a Wall with a Warrior standing on it requires 3 Range.

From the ground, attacking a Warrior on a Wall — or across one — costs more Range than a same-level target.

Counting the cost: a same-level target is 1 Range, a target on a Wall or behind an empty Wall is 2 Range, and a target behind a Wall with a Warrior on it is 3 Range.

Ability Attacks

An Ability is an Attack only if it says “Attack” or tells the player to make an Attack. Damage, Battlefield Damage, direct Health loss, Destroy, push, movement, and other effects are not Attacks by themselves. Ground Pound is an Attack. Shockwave, Explode, Bomb explosions, and Wall Effects are not.

Attack Commitment

Once a legal Attack is made, it counts as an Attack even if its Damage is later prevented, reduced to 0, replaced, or redirected — or even if its source is removed before that Damage resolves.

If an Attack against a Marker reveals a Bomb and a hidden Warrior, resolve the Bomb first. If the hidden Warrior survives, the committed Attack continues against it, even if the Bomb Killed the attacking Warrior. If the hidden Warrior is removed before the Attack resolves, the Attack has no remaining target and deals no Damage, but still counts as having been made.

Response Actions

A Warrior receives a Response only during the opposing player’s turn. Players never receive or take Responses during their own turn, and damage alone does not grant a Response.

A Warrior receives a Response only when it survives one of the following triggers:

• An enemy Warrior’s Attack.
• Falling because an enemy Warrior destroyed the Wall beneath it.
• Being revealed from Stealth because an enemy Warrior tried to occupy its space.

These are Response triggers, but they are not all Attacks. Falling and Stealth-reveal grant Responses because they are defined triggers, not because they are Attacks.

A Warrior may receive at most one Response from a single simultaneous event, even if more than one Response trigger occurs in that event.

Responses happen after the triggering event and all required aftermath are fully resolved. A non-Keeper Warrior may use a Response only to move, attack, or use one of its own abilities. A Keeper Response is a player-level Response and may be used for any one legal player action. If multiple Responses are created, their owner chooses the order to resolve them.

What Does and Does Not Grant a Response

Self-inflicted attacks, allied attacks, and non-Attack damage do not grant Responses. A Response is still granted if the enemy Attack deals no damage, is prevented, reduced to 0, blocked, or replaced.

Deliver is a Damage-replacement effect, not a Response by itself. If Deliver triggers from an enemy Attack, it consumes that Warrior’s Response for that Attack and no extra Response is granted. If Deliver triggers from Battlefield Damage or another non-Attack source, the Warrior is Delivered but receives no Response at all.

A Grounded Attack deals no Damage, so Deliver does not trigger from it — but it is still an Attack, so a surviving enemy Warrior receives its normal Attack Response.

Non-Attack damage never grants Responses. This includes Bombs, Void, Wall effects, collision damage, forced movement damage, direct Health loss, Destroy effects, Shockwave, Explode, Penalty, inflicted Damage, and other Battlefield Damage. When the word “Unavoidable” is used, it means damage or Health loss cannot be prevented, reduced, redirected, or replaced — it neither creates nor denies Responses.

Killed and Destroyed

A Warrior is Killed when its Health reaches 0. It is removed as death cleanup and produces its normal Kill aftermath — a Minion leaves 2 Strange Matter and goes to the Graveyard, a Guardian leaves 10, a Keeper leaves 5 plus that player’s stored Strange Matter, and any carried Loot drops too. A Killed Keeper’s LifeForce loses 5 Health, and the Keeper respawns if the LifeForce survives.

A Warrior is Destroyed by a health-independent removal effect. Destroy does not count as Killed, does not trigger “when killed” effects, and produces no normal death Strange Matter or carried Loot unless that effect says otherwise.

The attacker does not move into the emptied space unless a rule moves or places it there.

LifeForce Destruction & Last Stand

When a LifeForce is destroyed, that player loses.

When both LifeForces reach 0 at the same time, the game goes directly to the Last Stand. Both LifeForces are removed from the battlefield, both Guardians are immediately Unchained, and the game continues until a Keeper is removed by either a Kill or a Destroy event. The first player whose Keeper is removed loses.

This applies however the simultaneous destruction happened. It applies when a single effect destroys both LifeForces, and it applies when both Keepers are removed at the same time and the resulting 5 Health loss drains both LifeForces to 0.

Keeper respawn when the Last Stand begins. If both Keepers were removed at the moment the Last Stand began, each Keeper receives one respawn beside its former LifeForce so the Last Stand can be played. That is the only Keeper respawn permitted in this state. After it, no removed Keeper respawns, because no LifeForce survives to support a respawn.

If both Keepers are removed at the same time during the Last Stand, the player whose turn it currently is loses.

Walls and Wall-Fall Responses

Walls have 1 Health and may be destroyed by adjacent Warriors. A destroyed Wall immediately triggers its Wall Card effect. If an enemy Warrior destroys a Wall beneath a Warrior during the opposing player’s turn, that Warrior falls without damage and receives a Wall-Fall Response. This is not an Attack Response.

Stealth-Reveal Responses

If an enemy Warrior tries to occupy a hidden stealthed Warrior’s space during the opposing player’s turn, the hidden Warrior is revealed. After resolving placement and overlap, if the revealed Warrior survives it receives a Stealth-Reveal Response. If an enemy attacks a Marker that reveals a stealthed Warrior, the Attack resolves against that Warrior; a survivor receives the normal Attack Response, not a Stealth-Reveal Response.

Event PriorityDamage → Defense → Resolve → Repeat → Healing → Responses. All repetitions belong to the same event.

Resolve every event in this order:

1. Damage — determine incoming Damage; no Health is lost yet.
2. Defense — resolve protection, reduction, redirection, and replacement.
3. Resolve — apply remaining Damage simultaneously and finish immediate consequences.
4. Repeat — if new Damage is created, repeat Damage → Defense → Resolve.
5. Healing — apply Healing after all Damage and immediate consequences finish.
6. Responses — resolve eligible Responses last.

All repetitions belong to the same original event. There is no Healing or Response between repetitions.

Damage → Defense → Resolve repeats whenever new Damage is created. Only after all Damage and immediate consequences finish do Healing and Responses occur.

Remember D.A.M.A.G.E.

• D — Damage: determine incoming Damage.
• A — Armor: resolve protections, including Armor, Defense, and Deliver.
• M — Movement: apply remaining Damage and finish deaths, movement, respawns, and other immediate consequences.
• A — Again: new Damage means repeat D–A–M within the same event.
• G — Gains: apply Healing.
• E — Eligible Responses: resolve permitted Responses.

These are memory cues. Movement includes applying Damage and resolving deaths even when nothing moves; Gains means Healing.

Damage

Determine all Damage currently attempted against each affected damageable object. No Health is lost yet. Damage to multiple targets from one simultaneous effect is resolved together. Bombs exploding together combine their Damage: 3 per Bomb.

Defense

Resolve effects that prevent, reduce, redirect, or replace Damage, including Armor, Invincible, Truce, Deliver, and Grounded where applicable. Unavoidable Damage cannot be prevented, reduced, redirected, or replaced.

Deliver replaces a Warrior's Damage for that simultaneous Damage occurrence, including Damage affecting its destination. It is consumed when triggered. It does not protect against new Damage created in later repetitions of the same event.

Resolve and Repeat

Apply remaining Damage simultaneously. Direct Health Loss and health-independent Destroy effects that are part of the event also resolve here. Direct Health Loss is not Damage; Damage prevention does not affect it unless specifically stated.

A Warrior reaching 0 Health is Killed. Resolve death cleanup, normal Strange Matter and carried Loot drops, and “when killed” effects. A health-independent Destroy is not a Kill and produces no normal death Strange Matter or carried Loot unless the effect says otherwise.

Finish all immediate consequences, including forced movement, Bomb explosions, Marker reveals, Wall Effects, LifeForce consequences, Keeper respawn, and overlap resolution. Whenever these create new Damage, return to Damage → Defense → Resolve. Continue until no unresolved Damage or immediate consequences remain.

Deliver Placement Priority

Deliver is mandatory when triggered. Check the affected Warrior's LifeForce row, then Guardian row, then continue row by row outward until the first row with a legal destination. Its owner chooses within that row and cannot skip a nearer legal row.

A Portal, Void, or Wall may be legal under that Warrior's Placement rules. A Chained Guardian must stay within its legal Chained placement restrictions. If no legal destination exists anywhere allowed, the Warrior stays in its current space and Deliver is resolved. Deliver itself does not drop or remove carried Loot.

Healing

Apply Healing only after all Damage and immediate consequences from the event have finished.

Responses

After Healing, a surviving Warrior may receive a Response only during the opposing player's turn, from an enemy Warrior's Attack, an enemy Warrior destroying the Wall beneath it, or an enemy Warrior attempting to occupy its hidden Stealth space.

A Warrior receives at most one Response from the entire event, even if several triggers occur across repetitions. If several Warriors receive Responses, their owner chooses their order.

Deliver does not itself grant a Response. If triggered by an enemy Attack, it consumes that Warrior's Response for that Attack; no additional Response is granted.

Worked Examples

Tap an example to expand it.

Example: Bomber, Repel Wall, and Scaler

1. A Bomber attacks and destroys a Repel Wall with a Scaler standing on it. The Scaler falls unharmed and is immune to that Wall Effect.
2. Repel attempts to push the Bomber backward. If blocked, the Bomber stays put and receives 1 Battlefield Damage.
3. Repeat Damage → Defense → Resolve for that new Damage. If it Kills the Bomber, Explode creates 3 Damage within a 1-space radius.
4. Repeat again for Explode. The fallen Scaler may be hit and Killed.
5. Only after all consequences finish do Healing and Responses occur. A Scaler Killed by Explode receives no Wall-Fall Response.

Example: Attack Reveals a Bomb and Hidden Warrior

1. An Attack reveals a Bomb and a hidden Warrior. Resolve the Bomb through Damage → Defense → Resolve before continuing.
2. Resolve deaths and immediate consequences. The original legal Attack remains committed even if the Bomb Kills the attacker.
3. If the revealed Warrior survives and remains a valid target, resolve the original Attack against it. Otherwise the Attack has no remaining target and deals no Attack Damage, but still counts as made.
4. Healing and Responses wait until the entire event finishes.

Example: Deliver Reveals a Hidden Marker

1. Reveal the Marker before completing Deliver placement. A hidden Warrior makes that destination illegal immediately; it stays invalid for this Deliver even if a Bomb later removes the hidden Warrior.
2. Resolve revealed Bomb Damage through Damage → Defense → Resolve and finish reveal and overlap consequences. The Delivered Warrior has not entered the selected space; it may still be hit if its actual current space is in range of this new Damage.
3. Skip the illegal destination and continue Deliver priority to the next legal destination.
4. Healing and Responses wait until all Damage and immediate consequences finish.

Example: Keeper Respawns onto a Void

1. Place the Keeper on the Void if it is the highest-priority legal destination. The Void immediately Destroys it; Void itself does not deal Damage.
2. Resolve Keeper destruction, including 5 LifeForce Health loss. If the LifeForce survives, repeat respawn as part of the same continuing resolution.
3. If the Void remains the highest-priority legal destination, repeat until the LifeForce reaches 0 or the board changes the destination priority.
4. Void Destroys rather than Kills, so “when killed” effects such as Explode do not trigger.

The Board & Pieces

Every Warrior and object on the 7×7 grid, and the rules that govern them.

Board LayoutFixed coordinates, row names, directions, and placement geometry.

The Battlefield is a 7×7 grid. Columns run A to G from left to right; rows run 1 to 7 from bottom to top. Each space has one fixed address for both players.

Player Sides and Rows

• Row 1: first player's LifeForce row; LifeForce at D1.
• Row 2: first player's Guardian row; Guardian at D2.
• Rows 3 and 5: open ground.
• Row 4: starting Wall row; all starting Walls belong to the second player and use that player's Wall Effect.
• Row 6: second player's Guardian row; Guardian at D6.
• Row 7: second player's LifeForce row; LifeForce at D7.

The player going first always takes row 1, including when Private settings change who goes first.

Directions and Distance

Right means toward G; left means toward A. Directly across means the same column mirrored through row 4: A1 faces A7, D2 faces D6, and row 3 faces row 5.

Adjacent spaces share an edge. Corner-adjacent spaces touch at a corner. A 1-space radius includes both, up to eight surrounding spaces. Range follows a legal Attack direction; normal Attacks are cardinal, while Strafe permits diagonals.

Placement Examples

For a LifeForce at D1, Keeper respawn checks C1/E1, then D2, then C2/E2, then B1/F1. If none is legal, continue expanding outward to the nearest legal destination. For D7, mirror these priorities: C7/E7, D6, C6/E6, B7/F7, then outward.

Minion setup starts with one placement at A1, followed by two beginning at A7, then alternating pairs. Each row independently progresses rightward, skipping unavailable spaces.

Deliver checks the Warrior's LifeForce row first, then Guardian row, then successive rows until the first legal row is found. A Chained Guardian must respect its Chained placement restrictions.

WarriorsKeeper, Minions, and Guardian — the playable cards and their attributes.

Warriors are all playable cards in the game. This includes the Keeper, Minions, and Guardian.

Each Warrior has four main attributes. Speed determines how many spaces it may move per movement action. Health Points (HP) determine how much Damage it can take before reaching 0 Health and being Killed. Range determines how far it can attack. Strength determines how many Health Points it removes when attacking.

Warriors move cardinally using their current Speed; Abilities may alter their movement. Warriors may switch places with an adjacent friendly Warrior by spending 2 actions, as long as both can legally make that 1-space voluntary movement — the switch counts as 1 space of voluntary movement for each Warrior involved. If a Warrior is forcibly moved toward a space it cannot legally occupy, it stays put and receives 1 Battlefield Damage.

Killed and Destroyed

These are two different things, and the difference decides what a Warrior leaves behind.

A Warrior is Killed when its Health reaches 0. It leaves its normal Strange Matter on the space where it died, drops any Loot it was carrying, and is then removed as death cleanup.

A Warrior is Destroyed when a health-independent effect removes it from the Battlefield. A Destroyed Warrior does not generate its normal death Strange Matter, and loses any Strange Matter or Loot it possesses rather than dropping it, unless that effect explicitly says otherwise.

Effects that read “when killed” — such as the Bomber’s Explode — trigger only from a Kill, never from a Destroy.

Each kind of Warrior — the Keeper, the Minions, and the Guardian — is detailed in its own section.

The three kinds of Warrior: your Keeper, your Minions, and your Guardian.

The KeeperThe player’s avatar — ultimates, responses, destruction, and respawn priority.

The Keeper is the leader of the army and represents the player. Its basic attributes are 1 Speed, 1 Range, 1 Strength, and 5 Health Points, which may be modified during gameplay.

The Keeper — your leader on the battlefield. Base 1 Speed, 1 Range, 1 Strength, 5 Health.

Keeper Ultimate Ability

Each Keeper has one chosen Ultimate Ability for the match, selected during setup. Ultimates may be used only once per game and cost 1 action to activate. In the app, the Ultimate is shown on the back of the Keeper card and is used by selecting the icon to the left of the focused Keeper card. Once used, the orange token at the bottom of the screen disappears.

Keeper Responses

When a Keeper receives a Response, it may take a player-level Response Action — any one legal player action. This includes attacking, moving, using an Ability or the Keeper’s Ultimate, using a Keeper Ability Card, using Strange Matter, taking Strange Matter from the Economy, purchasing an item, or using an allied Minion.

A Keeper receives a Response in the same three situations as other Warriors: surviving an enemy Attack, falling because an enemy destroyed the Wall beneath it, or being revealed from Stealth because an enemy attempts to occupy its space. A Keeper receives at most one Response from a single simultaneous event, even if more than one trigger occurs in it.

Effects That Do Not Grant Keeper Responses

Battlefield Damage and inflicted Damage do not grant Keeper Responses. Bomb explosions, Void, Wall effects, collision damage, forced-movement damage, direct Health loss, Destroy effects, Shockwave, Minefield, Explode, and Penalty do not grant Keeper Responses. The Response must come from one of the three valid triggers.

Keeper Killed

When a Keeper is Killed — its Health reaches 0 — it leaves 5 Strange Matter on the space where it died, plus all Strange Matter in that player’s Reserves and any Loot it was carrying. The LifeForce then loses 5 Health Points. If the LifeForce survives, the Keeper returns by respawn priority.

Keeper Destroyed

When a Keeper is Destroyed by a health-independent effect, it generates no 5 Strange Matter drop, and the Reserves and any carried Loot are lost rather than dropped. The LifeForce still loses 5 Health Points, and the Keeper still respawns if the LifeForce survives. A Destroyed Keeper does not trigger effects that require a Warrior to be Killed.

Keeper Respawn Priority

Respawn begins by checking available spaces adjacent to the LifeForce on the LifeForce row. If two are available, the player chooses; if one, it is automatic. If none are available, placement checks the adjacent space in the Guardian row, then the corner-adjacent spaces around the LifeForce, then spaces two spaces out on the LifeForce row — choosing when two are available, automatic when one. If these nearby spaces are all illegal, continue expanding outward from the LifeForce until the nearest legal respawn destination is found.

Respawn works outward from the LifeForce in numbered steps: ① the two spaces beside it, ② the space ahead of it in the Guardian row, ③ the corners touching it, then ④ two spaces out along the LifeForce row. Use the first priority with a legal destination; if these nearby priorities are blocked, continue searching outward across the Battlefield.

Respawn is a Placement effect, so the destination may be an unoccupied space or a traversable occupied space the Keeper can legally resolve:

• a Portal is legal, and resolves immediately under the Portal rules;
• a Void is legal, and immediately Destroys the Keeper;
• a Wall is legal only if the Keeper can legally occupy Walls, such as through Scale;
• a space held by another Warrior or a LifeForce is never legal.

If the Keeper respawns onto a Void it is Destroyed, and that is a fresh Keeper destruction: the LifeForce loses another 5 Health and respawn is determined again. Do not skip the Void just because it Destroyed the Keeper last time. If the same Void is still the highest-priority legal destination, this repeats until the LifeForce reaches 0 and that player loses, or the board changes so another destination becomes highest priority.

Keeper Respawn Failure

If a Keeper cannot legally respawn anywhere, the respawn fails. Its LifeForce is reduced to 0, and that player immediately loses the game.

MinionsThe seven Minion types — stats, abilities, and the Graveyard.

Minions are the supporting Warriors of the Keeper's army. Each type has its own role, signature abilities, and stats.

Unless otherwise stated, each Minion has 1 Speed, 1 Range, 1 Strength, and 1 Health Point. These values change only where an Ability changes them, such as the Sniper's increased Range or the Ogre's increased Strength.

When a Minion is Killed, it leaves 2 Strange Matter plus any Loot it was carrying on the space where it died, then goes to the Graveyard. When a Minion is Destroyed instead, it leaves nothing — no 2 Strange Matter, and any carried Loot is lost rather than dropped, unless the effect says otherwise. From the Graveyard a Minion may return through Comrade, Revive, Resurrect, or by being purchased for 10 Strange Matter.

A Minion that arrives on the Battlefield by any of these routes has Summoning Sickness: it cannot act on the turn it is placed, and becomes usable at the beginning of its controller’s next turn.

Mage

Magical sorcerer

ActiveStun: The Mage may immobilize another Warrior within 2 Range. Immobilized Warriors cannot use Movement actions, but can use attacks and abilities. The effect ends at the beginning of the user’s next turn.

ActiveDeliver: The Mage may place Deliver on any Warrior within a 1-space radius of the Mage, including itself. The next time that Warrior would receive Damage, it instead teleports to a legal space on its LifeForce row. This effect will be exhausted upon use, or at the beginning of your next turn. If Deliver is triggered by an enemy Attack, Deliver acts as that Warrior’s Response, and the Warrior does not receive an additional Response.

Blockader

Defensive front-line Warrior

PassiveArmor: The Blockader ignores 1 Damage received per turn.

ActiveRam: Blockader may push another adjacent Warrior 1 space and take its place. This move is limited to 1 Speed. If the pushed Warrior cannot be moved into a legal space, neither Warrior moves and the pushed Warrior receives 1 Damage. This Damage is not an Attack and does not grant a Response. If that Damage Kills the rammed Warrior, the Blockader takes its space.

Sniper

Stealth marksman

PassiveRange: The Sniper has +1 Range.

ActiveStealth: The Sniper may enter Stealth. The player selects a legal movement space for the Sniper while keeping its true location hidden. The Sniper is placed in the Stealthed slot for that player, and Marker cards are placed in the possible spaces where the Sniper could be located. If an enemy Warrior attempts to occupy the Sniper’s hidden space, the Sniper is revealed; after any required placement, movement reversal, overlap, or repositioning is complete, the Sniper receives a Response if it survives — a Stealth-Reveal Response. Enemy Vision, taking an action, or another Warrior attacking or attempting to occupy the Sniper’s hidden space will also reveal the Sniper’s location.

Bomber

Explosive Minion

ActiveMinefield: The Bomber may place a hidden Bomb in a 1-space radius, with Marker cards placed in possible spaces to hide the Bomb’s location. When the Bomb is walked upon or attacked, it explodes and inflicts 3 Damage to all spaces within a 1-space radius. Exploding bombs do not grant Responses. Each player may have only 3 Bombs on the board at one time.

PassiveExplode: When killed, the Bomber deals 3 Damage to all spaces within a 1-space radius. This does not grant Responses.

Scout

Nimble reconnaissance Warrior

PassiveVision: The Scout automatically reveals enemy hidden Markers within a 1-space radius. Vision does not affect friendly Markers.

PassiveStrafe: The Scout can move and attack diagonally.

Ogre

Powerful melee Warrior

PassiveStrength: The Ogre has +1 Damage.

ActiveGround Pound: The Ogre may deal an attack that will simultaneously deal Damage to everything within a 1-space radius, including enemies, allies, and walls.

Scaler

Infiltrator and wall specialist

ActiveLeapfrog: Scaler may leap over an obstacle directly in its path and land on a legal space on the other side of that obstacle. Limited to 1 Speed.

PassiveScale: The Scaler can traverse Walls. If a Wall underneath your Scaler is destroyed by an enemy Warrior, your Scaler falls unharmed, is unaffected by the Wall’s effect, and receives a Response.

GuardianThe LifeForce’s protector, Chained and Unchained.

The Guardian is the protector of the LifeForce. It begins each match Chained to its LifeForce and can be Unchained during play.

Chained

While Chained, the Guardian has 1 Speed, 1 Range, 3 Strength, and 10 Health Points. It may move only within a 1-space radius of its LifeForce.

Chained, the Guardian may only end its move within one space of its LifeForce, and it still moves one space at a time in cardinal directions — it has no diagonal movement.

Unchained

Unchaining a Guardian costs 20 Strange Matter. Once Unchained, it has 2 Speed, 1 Range, 3 Strength, and whatever Health it has remaining, and may move freely under normal movement rules.

Unchained for 20 strange matter, the Guardian has 2 Speed and roams freely.

Chained Guardians and Portals

A Chained Guardian may use a Portal and remain Chained — the Portal connection can effectively extend the area it can legally reach. If that Portal is later removed or Vetoed and the Guardian’s current space is no longer legal under its normal Chained restriction, the Guardian is immediately Destroyed. If its space is still legal without the Portal, it survives.

Killed and Destroyed

When a Guardian is Killed, it leaves 10 Strange Matter plus any carried Loot on the space where it died. When a Guardian is Destroyed, it leaves nothing — no 10 Strange Matter, and any carried Loot is lost rather than dropped, unless the effect says otherwise.

Non-Playable PiecesLifeForce, Walls, Markers, Bombs, Portals, Void, Strange Matter, and Loot.

Non-Playable Pieces are cards or objects that cannot move, attack, or be moved once placed. They include the LifeForce, Walls, Markers, Bombs, Portals, Void, Strange Matter, and Loot.

LifeForce

The LifeForce has 15 Health Points and cannot be moved. When destroyed, that player loses.

When both LifeForces reach 0 at the same time, the game goes directly to the Last Stand. Both LifeForces are removed from the battlefield, both Guardians are immediately Unchained, and the game continues until a Keeper is removed by either a Kill or a Destroy event. The first player whose Keeper is removed loses.

This applies however the simultaneous destruction happened. It applies when a single effect destroys both LifeForces, and it applies when both Keepers are removed at the same time and the resulting 5 Health loss drains both LifeForces to 0.

Keeper respawn when the Last Stand begins. If both Keepers were removed at the moment the Last Stand began, each Keeper receives one respawn beside its former LifeForce so the Last Stand can be played. That is the only Keeper respawn permitted in this state. After it, no removed Keeper respawns, because no LifeForce survives to support a respawn.

If both Keepers are removed at the same time during the Last Stand, the player whose turn it currently is loses.

Walls

Walls have 1 Health Point and are occupied obstacle spaces. Warriors may move around them, destroy them, or move onto them with Scale. A Warrior with Scale may stand on top of a Wall, and both the Wall and the Warrior are treated as occupying that location — and any Warrior standing on a Wall is immune to Wall Effects while it stays there. Ranged Attacks cannot target Walls.

Markers

Markers represent hidden objects, hidden Warriors, hidden Bombs, or empty spaces. While hidden, they are treated as unoccupied spaces. A Marker may be revealed when a Warrior enters its space, when it is attacked, when exposed by Vision, or by another reveal effect. Once a Bomb or Warrior is revealed, the extra empty-space Markers for that object are removed.

Stacked Markers

If a space contains multiple stacked Markers and is attacked, the damage applies to all Markers at once. If stacked Markers are revealed by Vision and one is a Bomb among empty spaces, the Bomb is revealed but does not explode. If revealed by an attack or an attempted occupation, a Bomb explodes immediately. If a stacked Bomb is revealed alongside another Bomb or a Warrior, all Bombs explode.

Multiple Warriors in One Space

If two or more stacked Markers are revealed to be Warriors, only one may remain. The top Warrior moves first to a legal adjacent space of that player’s choice; if none exists, that Warrior is destroyed. Continue until one Warrior remains.

Hidden Warrior Reveal & Illegal Occupation

If a Warrior attempts to occupy a space with a hidden Warrior Marker and the reveal makes that occupation illegal, the entering Warrior’s movement is reversed after the reveal — but the action is still spent. Any required overlap or repositioning is completed before Responses.

Stealth-Reveal Response

If an enemy Warrior attempts to occupy the space of a hidden stealthed Warrior, the hidden Warrior is revealed. After all placement and repositioning is complete, a surviving revealed Warrior receives a Stealth-Reveal Response. Revealing by attacking its Marker, by Vision, by a battlefield event, or through a friendly Warrior does not grant a Response.

Bombs

Bombs can be hidden by Markers. When walked upon or attacked, a Bomb explodes and inflicts 3 Battlefield Damage in a 1-space radius. Bomb explosions are not Attacks and do not grant Responses. A Bomb within an explosion radius may chain.

Portals

Portals occupy spaces but may be entered through their own movement rules. A Warrior entering a Portal exits through the connected Portal according to the entry direction. Warriors cannot attack through Portals.

Void

Void occupies a space and Destroys any Warrior that moves, is moved, Teleports, is Delivered, respawns, is summoned, or is otherwise legally Placed onto it. Void does not deal Damage, is not an Attack, and grants no Response. Because it Destroys rather than Kills, it does not trigger “when killed” effects such as Explode, and a Warrior it Destroys leaves nothing behind — its normal death Strange Matter is never generated and any Loot or carried Strange Matter is lost rather than dropped.

Strange Matter & Loot

Strange Matter is the game’s resource and does not make a space occupied; Loot is Strange Matter carried on the Battlefield or dropped when a Warrior is Killed and likewise does not occupy a space — a Warrior may move onto it to collect or carry it. See the dedicated Strange Matter section for how it is earned, spent, carried, and transferred.

Strange MatterThe economy: earning, spending, Loot drops, carrying, and transferring.

Strange Matter is the main resource used to purchase Keeper Ability Cards, Walls, and Minions, and to unchain a player’s Guardian. It is currency — it does not occupy a space on the board.

Earning Strange Matter

Players can collect Strange Matter in several ways. If Strange Matter is available in the Economy, a player may take 1 Strange Matter per action spent. Strange Matter is also available as Loot when Warriors are Killed on the Battlefield. Some Keeper Ability Cards can also affect how Strange Matter is gained, lost, or controlled.

Spending Strange Matter

Whenever a player purchases anything, the Strange Matter spent is returned to the Economy. Costs are:

• Wall — 5 Strange Matter
• Keeper Ability Card — 5 Strange Matter
• Minion — 10 Strange Matter
• Unchain the Guardian — 20 Strange Matter

Strange Matter as Loot

A Warrior produces its normal Strange Matter drop only when it is Killed — that is, when its Health reaches 0. A Minion drops 2 Strange Matter. A Guardian drops 10 Strange Matter. A Keeper drops 5 Strange Matter plus all of the Strange Matter that player had stored. Any Loot the Warrior was carrying drops as well.

A Warrior that is Destroyed by a health-independent effect produces none of this. Its normal death Strange Matter is never generated, and any Strange Matter or Loot it possesses is lost rather than dropped, unless that effect explicitly says otherwise.

Collecting & Carrying Loot

When a Keeper moves over Loot, that Strange Matter is immediately added to the player’s stored Strange Matter and becomes available for use. If instead a friendly Warrior moves over Loot, that Warrior carries it rather than banking it.

Transferring Loot

A Warrior carrying Loot can pass it to another friendly Warrior. When adjacent, it spends 1 action to transfer the Loot to that Warrior. The hand-off must be in a direction the carrying Warrior is allowed to move, and the receiving Warrior must also be able to move in that same direction. Neither Warrior changes spaces. If a friendly Keeper receives the Loot, it is immediately added to the player’s stored Strange Matter.

First, a Warrior moves over Loot dropped on the Battlefield and picks it up.

That friendly Warrior carries the Loot instead of banking it.

Then, for 1 action, it transfers the Loot to an adjacent friendly Warrior — banked instantly if that Warrior is the Keeper.

When a Carrying Warrior Is Killed

If a Warrior carrying Loot is Killed, that carried Loot drops on the space where it died and may then be collected normally by either player. Carried Loot is separate from the Strange Matter a Warrior leaves behind on its own Kill, so a Minion carrying Loot leaves both the carried Loot and its own 2 Strange Matter.

Bounty Hunter and similar effects may increase the Strange Matter a Kill produces.

When a Carrying Warrior Is Destroyed

A Destroyed Warrior drops nothing at all — not its own Strange Matter, and not the Loot it was carrying. Everything it possessed is removed from the Battlefield rather than dropped or transferred, unless the effect that Destroyed it explicitly says otherwise:

• Sacrifice Destroys the chosen Minion. Its 2 Strange Matter is not generated and any Loot it was carrying is lost. Sacrifice separately adds 4 Strange Matter to your Reserves.
• Void Destroys the Warrior and everything it possesses.
• Blood for Blood Destroys the chosen Warriors. Anything they would have left on the Battlefield is lost, and nothing is transferred to either Keeper’s Reserves. If a Keeper is Destroyed, its owner’s Reserves are depleted to 0 and that Strange Matter disappears rather than dropping.

Occupied & Unoccupied SpacesWhat blocks movement, what is traversable, and how placement works.

As a general rule, Warriors can only move into unoccupied spaces and cannot move through occupied spaces unless an Ability allows it. If a Warrior is pushed into a space it is not allowed to occupy, it takes 1 Damage.

A Warrior may step into an open space, but an occupied space — like a Wall — blocks the move.

Unoccupied Spaces

Unoccupied spaces include empty spaces, Bombs, Strange Matter, and Markers — these can normally be moved on. Loot does not occupy a space, so a space with Loot is still unoccupied. Markers are treated as unoccupied while hidden and can be attacked and stacked. Strange Matter and Bombs are always placed on top of hidden Markers, so those spaces follow hidden Marker rules until revealed.

Occupied Spaces

Occupied spaces are classified by whether they are traversable or non-traversable, and whether they are obstacles or non-obstacles. A traversable obstacle is a Wall for a Warrior with Scale. Traversable non-obstacles include Portals and Void. Non-traversable obstacles include other Warriors, Walls for Warriors without Scale, and LifeForces.

Walls

Walls are occupied spaces and cannot be placed in an occupied space. A Warrior with Scale may move onto or off of a Wall, but Scale does not make the Wall unoccupied. A Warrior with Scale may also be respawned or summoned onto a Wall; a Warrior without Scale may not.

Portals and Void

Portals and Void are traversable occupied spaces — they may be entered through movement, respawn, and summon effects when legal. Portals and Void do not count as obstacle spaces for Leapfrog, which requires an obstacle to gain momentum from.

When a Warrior enters a Portal, the direction it entered from decides which direction it exits the connected Portal. If that exit space is not legal for the Warrior, the trip cannot complete: moving into the Portal voluntarily is simply illegal, and being forced into it resolves as failed Forced Movement.

When a Warrior is placed directly onto a Portal and the effect has a meaningful origin space, that origin relative to the Portal decides the entry direction — the player does not choose it. If a Warrior is spawned, summoned, or otherwise placed onto a Portal with no approach direction at all, it exits in the “up” direction for the player performing that spawn, summon, or Placement.

Abilities That Override Movement

Leapfrog allows a Warrior with Leapfrog adjacent to an obstacle-occupied space to move over it onto an unoccupied or traversable space. Ram allows a Warrior with Ram to move into another Warrior’s space and push that Warrior 1 space; if the pushed Warrior is blocked, neither moves and the rammed Warrior takes 1 Damage.

Legal Placement

Respawn, summon, revive, resurrect, purchase placement, Teleport, and Deliver are all Placement effects, and each requires a legal destination for the Warrior being placed. A legal destination may be:

• an unoccupied space;
• a Portal, which resolves immediately under the Portal rules;
• a Void, which immediately Destroys the placed Warrior;
• a Wall, if that Warrior can legally occupy Walls.

A space held by another Warrior or a LifeForce is never a legal destination. Walls become traversable only for Warriors with Scale — Scale makes the Wall traversable for that Warrior but does not make it unoccupied.

Placement onto Hidden Markers

A hidden Marker counts as unoccupied, so a Placement effect may attempt that space. Reveal the Marker before the placement completes. If a hidden Warrior is revealed and makes the destination illegal, the placement does not complete.

For ordinary movement or Teleport, the acting Warrior stays in its original space and the action or Ability cost is still spent. For Deliver, the failed destination is skipped and Deliver continues through its normal placement priority to the next legal destination, once all required reveal and Bomb aftermath resolves.

Walls & Wall EffectsWall ownership, how Walls break, the four Wall Effects, Collapse, and falling Warriors.

When a Wall is destroyed, resolve the Wall’s destruction and its Wall Effect immediately before any new action is taken, including any Response Action.

A destroyed Wall triggers its chosen Wall Effect — Push, Damage, Stun, or Heal — resolved at once.

Wall Ownership

Every Wall on the battlefield belongs to a player, and it carries the Wall Effect that player chose during setup.

The starting Wall row belongs to the player who goes second, the defending player. Every Wall in that row carries the defending player’s chosen Wall Effect.

Any Wall created later belongs to the player who created it and carries the Wall Effect that player chose during setup. This includes Walls placed by Wall Builder and Walls restored by Rebuild. A Wall placed by Rebuild belongs to the player who activated Rebuild, even when it is placed into a row that started as the other player’s.

Ownership does not change when a Wall is attacked, moved through, stood on, or destroyed. A Wall’s effect is fixed by its owner at the moment the Wall is created.

A Wall Effect resolves no matter who destroys the Wall. A player who destroys their own Wall receives that Wall’s effect in the same way an enemy would.

Effects That Do Not Trigger Wall Effects

Walls destroyed by area damage do not activate their Wall Effects. This covers Ground Pound, Bomb explosions, Explode, and Shockwave.

This suppression applies only to the Wall Effect itself. Separate effects such as Collapse follow their own trigger requirements.

Wall Effect Damage and Movement

If a Wall Effect deals Damage, that Damage is Battlefield Damage — not an Attack and does not grant Responses. If a Wall Effect attempts to move a Warrior that cannot be moved into a legal space, that Warrior remains in place and receives any Battlefield Damage caused by the failed movement.

Warriors Standing on Walls

A Warrior standing on a Wall is immune to Wall Effects. This is true of any Warrior on a Wall, not only a Warrior with Scale. Such a Warrior receives no Wall Effect from the Wall underneath it being destroyed, from an adjacent Wall it destroys itself, or from any other Wall Effect whose area would otherwise reach it.

It still follows the normal fall rules if the Wall underneath it is destroyed.

Destroying the Wall Beneath a Warrior

If the Wall underneath a Warrior is destroyed, that Warrior falls onto that space and takes no Damage from the fall. If an enemy Warrior destroyed the Wall during the opposing player’s turn, the surviving Warrior receives a Wall-Fall Response once the destruction, Wall Effect, and fall are fully resolved. A Warrior receives at most one Response from that simultaneous event, even if another trigger also occurred.

Warriors That Cannot Be Used

If a Wall Effect says the Warrior who destroyed the Wall cannot be used for the rest of the turn, that Warrior takes no more actions that turn. If that Warrior is a Keeper, the player’s turn immediately ends.

Collapse

Collapse is not a Wall Effect. It is a separate Keeper Ability Card with its own trigger.

Collapse triggers only when an enemy Warrior destroys one of your Walls with an Attack. So:

• a normal enemy Warrior Attack that destroys your Wall triggers Collapse;
• Ground Pound triggers Collapse, because Ground Pound is an Attack made by a Warrior;
• Bomb explosions do not trigger Collapse;
• Explode does not trigger Collapse;
• Shockwave does not trigger Collapse;
• destroying your own Wall does not trigger Collapse.

If a single Ground Pound destroys several qualifying enemy Walls, each destroyed Wall may trigger Collapse separately.

Collapse deals 1 Battlefield Damage to the Warrior responsible for the qualifying Attack, once per trigger. Because Collapse is not a Wall Effect, immunity to Wall Effects does not prevent it.

Wall Effect Descriptions

• Freeze Effect — The Warrior responsible for destroying the Wall cannot be used for the remainder of that turn. If that Warrior is the Keeper, the turn ends. A Warrior standing on a Wall is immune to this.
• Repel Effect — When applicable, the responsible adjacent Warrior is pushed 1 space directly away from the destroyed Wall.
• Damage Effect — Deals 1 Battlefield Damage to Warriors in the effect’s 1-space radius. This does not destroy other Walls, and Warriors standing on Walls are immune to it.
• Heal Effect — When applicable, restores 1 Health to the responsible adjacent Warrior, not exceeding maximum Health.

Warriors on WallsOccupying walls, attacking from and across them, and range costs.

Occupying a Wall

A Wall is an occupied solid space. A Warrior may occupy a Wall only if it has Scale or another rule that allows it to move onto Walls. Moving onto a Wall does not require extra Speed, and a Wall counts as a single space. A Warrior without Scale cannot move onto or be placed on a Wall unless another rule allows it.

Only Warriors with Scale may step onto a Wall and hold that space.

Warriors Standing on Walls

A Warrior on a Wall is treated as standing on top of that Wall. The Wall and the Warrior are both treated as occupying that location for movement, targeting, and board-state rules.

Standing on a Wall also makes a Warrior immune to Wall Effects — any Warrior, not only one with Scale, and regardless of which rule let it occupy the Wall. That includes a Warrior on one Wall destroying an adjacent Wall: it takes no Wall Effect from the Wall it just broke.

The immunity covers Wall Effects and nothing else. It does not protect against Collapse, Bomb Damage, Shockwave, Ground Pound, or any other non-Wall-Effect source. See Walls & Wall Effects.

Moving Onto and Off of Walls

A Warrior with Scale may move onto or off of a Wall as part of normal movement, and may also Teleport onto a Wall if the Teleport effect allows choosing the Wall as a destination.

Attacking From a Wall

A Warrior standing on a Wall may attack normally. Being on a Wall does not prevent attacking unless another rule prevents it.

Attacking a Warrior on a Wall

If the attacker is not on a Wall, attacking a Warrior on top of a Wall requires 1 additional Range. An adjacent same-level target requires 1 Range; a target on top of a Wall requires 2 Range.

Same level costs 1 Range; a target on a Wall costs 2; a target behind an occupied Wall costs 3.

Attacking Over or Through a Wall

Attacking a target on the opposite side of a Wall requires 1 additional Range. A target behind one empty Wall requires 2 Range. A target behind a Wall with a Warrior standing on it requires 3 Range.

Wall Destruction Under a Warrior

A Warrior on top of a Wall is immune to that Wall’s effect. If the Wall beneath it is destroyed, the Warrior falls onto that space without Damage. If an enemy destroys that Wall, the falling Warrior gains a Response after the destruction, Wall Effect, and fall are fully resolved — at most one Response from that event.

Illegal Movement Into Walls

A Warrior with Scale may treat a Wall as a space it can legally move onto. If a Warrior without Scale is pushed into a Wall space it cannot occupy, resolve that movement using the normal rules for illegal and forced movement. Any effects from the Wall’s destruction, including Wall Effects, must be resolved before any new action.

BombsPlanting, limits, stacking, chain reactions, and explosion damage.

Bombs can be planted by a Bomber or by a Keeper with the Minefield Ability. Bombs are hidden using Markers and are assumed to be empty spaces until proven otherwise.

Bomb Limit

Each player may have up to 3 bombs planted at one time. This means no more than 6 bombs can be on the battlefield at once.

Setting a Bomb

Bombs are placed using the Minefield Ability, which allows a bomb on any unoccupied space within a 1-space radius of the Warrior using it. Bombs may be planted on top of other bombs, including your own. A player may also unknowingly plant a hidden bomb on top of the other player’s hidden bomb, because Markers are assumed empty until proven otherwise. If stacked hidden bombs are later revealed, all stacked bombs immediately explode as a single simultaneous event. The explosion deals 3 Damage for each Bomb in that space to everything within a 1-space radius, so two stacked Bombs deal 6 Damage and three deal 9.

Exploding Bombs

When a bomb is walked upon or attacked, it explodes and deals 3 damage in a 1-space radius. If another bomb is within range of the explosion, it is also triggered, creating a chain reaction.

A planted bomb hides among Markers in a 1-space radius. When it goes off, it deals 3 Damage to every space in a 1-space radius around it.

Bomb Damage and Responses

Bomb explosions are not Attacks and never give Response Actions to surviving Warriors. A Bomb may itself be a legal target of an Attack, including a Ranged Attack.

Bombs and Walls

A Bomb may Damage and destroy a Wall where an effect allows that Damage to reach the Wall. But a Bomb is not a Warrior and a Bomb explosion is not an Attack, so a Bomb destroying a Wall does not satisfy effects that require an enemy Warrior to destroy a Wall with an Attack — including Collapse.

Bombs and Destroy Effects

If an effect such as Void removes a Bomb directly rather than triggering it, the Bomb is Destroyed and removed without exploding.

MarkersHidden objects, revealing, stacking, and which reveals grant Responses.

Markers represent hidden Warriors, hidden Bombs, or empty spaces. While hidden, Markers are treated as unoccupied spaces, and multiple Markers may occupy the same space.

Face-down Markers look identical until revealed — any one could be a Bomb, a hidden Warrior, or simply an empty space.

Revealing Markers

A Marker may be revealed when a Warrior attempts to occupy its space, when it is attacked, when exposed by Vision, or by another reveal effect. Once a hidden Bomb or Warrior is revealed, all extra empty-space Markers for that object are removed.

Revealing Stacked Markers

If one Marker is a Bomb among empty spaces, revealing by Vision only reveals the Bomb without exploding it. If revealed by an attack or attempted occupation, the Bomb explodes immediately. If stacked Markers include a Bomb plus another Bomb or a Warrior, all Bombs explode immediately. Bomb explosions inflict Battlefield Damage — not Attacks, no Responses.

Multiple Warriors Revealed in One Space

If two or more stacked Markers reveal Warriors, only one may remain. The top Warrior moves first to a legal adjacent space of the player’s choice; if none exists, it is Destroyed. Continue until one Warrior remains. A Warrior removed by overlap resolution is Destroyed rather than Killed, so it produces no normal death Loot.

Attempting to Occupy a Hidden Warrior’s Space

If a Warrior attempts to occupy a space with a hidden Warrior Marker, reveal it before completing the movement, Teleport, Deliver, Placement, or Summon. If the revealed Warrior makes the destination illegal, the attempt fails, the acting Warrior remains in place, and the cost is still spent.

The failed occupation does not resume, even if a Bomb revealed at the same time then removes that hidden Warrior. If a Bomb and a hidden Warrior are revealed together: reveal all Markers, the hidden Warrior makes the occupation illegal, the acting Warrior stays put with its attempt spent, then the Bombs resolve. For Deliver, the failed destination is skipped and Deliver continues to its next legal destination instead.

Shockwave and Hidden Markers

When Shockwave reaches a hidden Marker space, reveal the contents before applying its Damage there. An empty Marker is simply removed; a hidden Warrior takes the Shockwave Damage; a hidden Bomb is revealed and resolves under the Bomb rules. Shockwave is not an Attack, so survivors receive no Attack Response.

Stealth-Reveal Responses

If the revealed hidden Warrior is stealthed and the acting Warrior is an enemy attempting to occupy its space during the opposing player’s turn, the revealed Warrior receives a Response if it survives — a Stealth-Reveal Response.

Attacking a Marker That Reveals a Stealthed Warrior

If an enemy attacks a Marker revealed to be a hidden stealthed Warrior, the Attack resolves against that Warrior. If it survives during the opposing player’s turn, it receives a normal Attack Response — not a Stealth-Reveal Response.

Reveals That Do Not Grant Responses

Revealing a hidden Warrior by Vision, through a battlefield event, or through a friendly Warrior does not grant a Response.

Vision and Markers

Vision reveals enemy Markers within its range. It does not cause Bombs to explode when the revealed Bomb is stacked only with empty-space Markers. Vision is not an Attack and does not grant Responses.

Instant Death SituationsHealth-independent removal: Destroy effects, overlap, and failed respawn.

Destroy Effects

Any rule or card effect that uses the word Destroy removes a Warrior without its Health reaching 0. This includes effects such as Sacrifice, Blood for Blood, and Void. A Destroyed Warrior is not Killed, so it does not trigger “when killed” effects and it leaves nothing behind — no normal death Strange Matter, and any Loot or carried Strange Matter is lost rather than dropped.

Chained Guardians and Portals

A Chained Guardian may use a Portal and stay Chained, with the connection effectively extending the area it can reach. If that Portal is later removed or Vetoed and the Guardian’s current space is no longer legal under its normal Chained restriction, the Guardian is immediately Destroyed. If its space is still legal without the Portal, it survives.

Markers and Non-Playable Pieces

If multiple revealed Warriors occupy the same space and the top Warrior cannot legally be moved to any valid adjacent space, that top Warrior is Destroyed. This is also health-independent.

Failed Keeper Respawn

Keeper respawn is Placement, and a destination does not have to be literally empty — a Portal is legal and resolves normally, a Void is legal and immediately Destroys the Keeper, and a Wall is legal if the Keeper can occupy Walls. Only solid occupied Warrior spaces are never legal.

If none of the nearby priority spaces is legal, continue expanding outward from the LifeForce. Only if no legal respawn destination exists anywhere on the Battlefield does respawn fail: the LifeForce is reduced to 0 and that player immediately loses the game.

A respawn onto a Void is not a failed respawn. The Keeper is placed, Destroyed by the Void, loses another 5 LifeForce Health, and tries again — repeating while that Void stays the highest-priority legal destination and nothing else changes.

Example: Keeper Respawn Failure

If every nearby priority space is blocked but a legal space remains farther out, the Keeper respawns there. A Wall may still be legal for a Keeper with Scale, and Portals and Void follow their Placement rules. Another Warrior's space is never legal. Movement abilities do not allow the Keeper to ignore these destination rules.

Blocked nearby spaces do not mean defeat. Continue outward and check the entire Battlefield. Respawn fails only when no legal destination exists anywhere.

Abilities

Minion abilities, the four Keeper Ultimates, and all 70 Keeper Ability Cards.

Abilities OverviewThe two categories, five card types, and how cards are gained.

Abilities are special actions or rule changes that affect Warriors, Keeper Ability Cards, or the battlefield. Some belong directly to Warriors from the start — Minion Abilities and Keeper Ultimate Abilities. The rest come from Keeper Ability Cards that players purchase during the game.

Two Categories

• Minion Abilities are printed on Minion Warrior cards. Some require an action to use, and others are always active. Minions begin the game with their listed Abilities.
• Keeper Abilities include once-per-game Ultimate Abilities chosen at setup, and the deck of 70 Keeper Ability Cards purchased for 5 Strange Matter each.

Five Ability Types

1. Passive — Always active. Stays in the Ability Row.

Armor, a Passive card — its effect is always on while it sits in the Ability Row.

2. Active — Costs an action to use. Stays in the Ability Row.

Ram, an Active card — costs an action each time it is used and stays in the Ability Row.

3. Event — Occurs upon purchase. Stays in the Ability Row.

Toughen, an Event card — its effect resolves immediately when purchased.

4. Ultimate — Occurs upon use. Once only, then exhausted. Chosen at setup and shown on the back of the Keeper card.

5. CC (1cc / 2cc / 3cc) — Costs an action to use, then is placed into the Cooldown Field. Requires that number of separate CC cards placed on top of it to return to the Ability Row.

Ground Pound, a 1cc card — after use it cools down in the Cooldown Field until 1 other CC card is placed on top of it.

Ability Card text may create special situations that change how a core rule works.

How Cards Are Gained

A Private Hand holds 7 cards: 7 random unique cards in Chaotic, or 7 hand-selected from 20 drafted cards in Calculated. A Shared Hand holds 3 random unique cards from the Ability deck, and either player may buy from it. Keeper Ability Cards cost 5 Strange Matter.

Buying from the Shared Hand works differently in each card setup style. In Calculated it is a swap: you take the Shared Hand card and give up one of your own unpurchased private hand cards, which takes its place in the Shared Hand — so the Shared Hand stays at 3 and never refills from the deck, and your total number of purchasable cards never grows. In Chaotic there is no swap: the card goes straight into your Ability Row and the Shared Hand refills to 3 from the Ability Deck. Either way, a full 7-card Ability Row blocks the purchase. See Ability Row & Cooldown Rules for the full rules.

Card Color Types

Every Ability Card belongs to one of eight categories, shown in-game by its banner color:

The eight Keeper Ability Card categories.

• Strange Matter — White, 5 cards
• Battleground Construction — Yellow, 5 cards
• Movement — Orange, 15 cards
• Protection — Green, 17 cards
• Minions — Blue, 4 cards
• Attack — Red, 16 cards
• Destruction — Black, 2 cards
• Activation Field — Purple, 6 cards

Minion AbilitiesEvery Minion’s two signature abilities.

Mage

Magical sorcerer

ActiveStun: The Mage may immobilize another Warrior within 2 Range. Immobilized Warriors cannot use Movement actions, but can use attacks and abilities. The effect ends at the beginning of the user’s next turn.

ActiveDeliver: The Mage may place Deliver on any Warrior within a 1-space radius of the Mage, including itself. The next time that Warrior would receive Damage, it instead teleports to a legal space on its LifeForce row. This effect will be exhausted upon use, or at the beginning of your next turn. If Deliver is triggered by an enemy Attack, Deliver acts as that Warrior’s Response, and the Warrior does not receive an additional Response.

Blockader

Defensive front-line Warrior

PassiveArmor: The Blockader ignores 1 Damage received per turn.

ActiveRam: Blockader may push another adjacent Warrior 1 space and take its place. This move is limited to 1 Speed. If the pushed Warrior cannot be moved into a legal space, neither Warrior moves and the pushed Warrior receives 1 Damage. This Damage is not an Attack and does not grant a Response. If that Damage Kills the rammed Warrior, the Blockader takes its space.

Sniper

Stealth marksman

PassiveRange: The Sniper has +1 Range.

ActiveStealth: The Sniper may enter Stealth. The player selects a legal movement space for the Sniper while keeping its true location hidden. The Sniper is placed in the Stealthed slot for that player, and Marker cards are placed in the possible spaces where the Sniper could be located. If an enemy Warrior attempts to occupy the Sniper’s hidden space, the Sniper is revealed; after any required placement, movement reversal, overlap, or repositioning is complete, the Sniper receives a Response if it survives — a Stealth-Reveal Response. Enemy Vision, taking an action, or another Warrior attacking or attempting to occupy the Sniper’s hidden space will also reveal the Sniper’s location.

Bomber

Explosive Minion

ActiveMinefield: The Bomber may place a hidden Bomb in a 1-space radius, with Marker cards placed in possible spaces to hide the Bomb’s location. When the Bomb is walked upon or attacked, it explodes and inflicts 3 Damage to all spaces within a 1-space radius. Exploding bombs do not grant Responses. Each player may have only 3 Bombs on the board at one time.

PassiveExplode: When killed, the Bomber deals 3 Damage to all spaces within a 1-space radius. This does not grant Responses.

Scout

Nimble reconnaissance Warrior

PassiveVision: The Scout automatically reveals enemy hidden Markers within a 1-space radius. Vision does not affect friendly Markers.

PassiveStrafe: The Scout can move and attack diagonally.

Ogre

Powerful melee Warrior

PassiveStrength: The Ogre has +1 Damage.

ActiveGround Pound: The Ogre may deal an attack that will simultaneously deal Damage to everything within a 1-space radius, including enemies, allies, and walls.

Scaler

Infiltrator and wall specialist

ActiveLeapfrog: Scaler may leap over an obstacle directly in its path and land on a legal space on the other side of that obstacle. Limited to 1 Speed.

PassiveScale: The Scaler can traverse Walls. If a Wall underneath your Scaler is destroyed by an enemy Warrior, your Scaler falls unharmed, is unaffected by the Wall’s effect, and receives a Response.

Keeper Ultimate AbilitiesThe four once-per-game ultimates chosen at setup.

Resurrect

Return one dead Minion from the Graveyard to a legal space adjacent to its LifeForce. It can’t be commanded until your next turn. Usable once per game.

Regrowth

Add 2 Health Points to your Keeper. Cannot exceed maximum HP. Usable once per game.

Freeze

Restrict all enemy Warriors’ movement actions until the beginning of your next turn. Usable once per game.

Command

Command any enemy Warrior within a 1-space radius for the remainder of your turn. If it is a Keeper, you may take any action it could perform except using or acquiring Strange Matter. Usable once per game.

Keeper Ability CardsAll 70 cards with their type and effect.

All 70 Keeper Ability Cards, alphabetically. The coloured edge shows each card's colour group.

Affliction Event

Cut the enemy Guardian’s current Health in half. If odd, round up.

Ambush 1cc

The subsequent attack by any of your Warriors does not result in a Response from an enemy Warrior.

Armor Passive

Your Keeper ignores 1 Damage per turn.

Blood Equity 1cc

Set the enemy Keeper’s current Health to match your Keeper’s current Health.

Blood for Blood 3cc

Both you and the enemy Keeper destroy one of their Warriors with no Loot dropped. If a Keeper is destroyed, then their Reserves are depleted to 0 with the Strange Matter disappearing. If both LifeForces would be destroyed by this action or are already destroyed, this card will have no effect.

Bounty Hunter Passive

Loot dropped by enemy Warriors you kill is increased by 2.

Call to Arms Passive

When the enemy Guardian is Unchained, your Minions gain 1 Strength.

Casters Event

Immediately activate an available CC Ability. Your opponent must now activate an available CC Ability. Following this, you activate a second CC Ability. Your turn now ends.

Collapse Passive

When destroyed by enemy Warrior attacks, all Walls deal 1 Damage before any Wall Effect.

Compromise 2cc

Heal all LifeForces and Warriors by 3.

Comrade Passive

When your Keeper respawns, summon a Minion.

Critical Hit 2cc

Attack with 3 Damage and 1 Range.

Dash Passive

Your Keeper gains 1 Speed.

Deliver Active

Place on any Warrior within a 1-space radius of your Keeper. The next time that Warrior would receive Damage, it instead teleports to a legal space on its LifeForce row. This effect will be exhausted upon use, or at the beginning of your next turn. If Deliver is triggered by an enemy Attack, Deliver acts as that Warrior’s Response, and the Warrior does not receive an additional Response.

Deplete 2cc

Transfer all Strange Matter from your Reserves into the Economy. The enemy Keeper must also transfer all Strange Matter from their Reserves into the Economy.

Explode Passive

When killed, your Keeper deals 3 Damage to everything in a 1-space radius.

Famine 3cc

Neither Keeper can take Strange Matter from the Economy or spend Strange Matter until the end of your next turn.

Ground Pound 1cc

Attack every space within a 1-space radius around the Keeper simultaneously. This attack will not activate Wall effects.

Grounded 3cc

The next enemy Warrior attacked by your Keeper takes no Damage but instead cannot move on its own initiative until it receives Damage from another source other than itself. A Grounded Warrior may still Attack, use abilities, and be moved by effects such as Ram, Deliver, or Wall effects.

Health Slash 2cc

Cut the enemy Keeper’s current Health in half. If odd, round up. Health Slash changes Health directly. It does not deal Damage, so Armor does not prevent it. Health Slash is not an Attack.

High Stakes 3cc

End your turn. The next attack by any Warrior or Ability will deal 8 damage.

Hinder Passive

Enemy Warriors within 1 space of your Keeper cannot move on their own initiative. A Hindered Warrior may still Attack, use abilities, and be moved by effects such as Ram, Deliver, or Wall effects.

Hunter Passive

Your Keeper’s Damage is doubled when attacking the enemy Guardian.

Hyperdrive 2cc

Activate up to two of your available CC Ability cards. Place this card last in the Cooldown Field if other cards are used.

Immunity 1cc

Your Warriors are not affected by Wall effects for the remainder of the turn of activation.

Invincible 3cc

Your Keeper cannot receive Damage until the end of your next turn.

Leapfrog Active

Keeper may leap over one obstacle directly in its path and land on the legal space immediately on the other side of that obstacle in the direction the Keeper can move. Limited to 1 Speed.

Minefield 1cc

Place a hidden Bomb in a 1-space radius of the Keeper. When attacked or moved upon, the bomb deals 3 Damage to everything within a 1-space radius. Each player may only have 3 Bombs on the board at one time.

Minionized 2cc

Until the end of your third turn, both Keepers’ current Health and maximum Health are set to 1.

Mirage 3cc

Switch your Keeper’s position with any of your Minions or Unchained Guardian.

Penalty 2cc

Deal 1 Damage to the enemy Keeper for every space it voluntarily moves during its next turn; Placement such as Deliver does not count as movement.

Persevere Passive

When below 3 Health, Keeper gains 1 Strength.

Portal Event

Place two Portals on any two unoccupied spaces and end your turn. Portals are traversable spaces that Warriors may enter through. The direction a Warrior enters a Portal determines their exit position. Blocked portals cannot be entered. Warriors cannot deal Damage through Portals. Portals do not act as an obstacle for Leapfrog.

Ram Active

Your Keeper may push other Warriors 1 space in the direction of the Keeper’s movement, taking their place. If the pushed Warrior cannot be moved into a legal space, neither Warrior moves and the pushed Warrior receives 1 Damage. This Damage is not an Attack and does not grant a Response.

Range Passive

Your Keeper gains 1 Range.

Rebuild 1cc

Place the original Walls from setup in every unoccupied space in the Wall row.

Reduce 2cc

Force the enemy Keeper to return 2 Strange Matter to the Economy.

Refresh 2cc

Heal your Keeper by 3, up to its maximum Health.

Regeneration 2cc

Heal your Keeper by 1 HP. At the beginning of your next turn, heal your Keeper by 1 HP again.

Repel Passive

When your Keeper attacks a Warrior, that Warrior is pushed 1 space in the direction of the Keeper’s attack. If that Warrior cannot move, it receives 1 Damage. Does not apply to self-inflicted attacks by the Keeper.

Reset 2cc

Place one of your Ability cards from the Cooldown Field back into your Ability Row.

Resourceful 2cc

Reduce your Strange Matter costs by 2 until the beginning of your next turn.

Restore 3cc

Heal your Keeper to maximum Health.

Retaliate 3cc

Until the end of your third turn, your Keeper returns any Damage it receives from enemy attacks directly to the perpetrator regardless of Range.

Return 1cc

Teleport your Keeper to any legal space adjacent to your LifeForce.

Revive 3cc

Resurrect up to 3 Minions.

Risk 2cc

Reduce the enemy Keeper’s LifeForce Health by 5. Reduce your LifeForce Health by 10. If this results in the simultaneous destruction of both LifeForces, both Guardians become Unchained and the Keeper that is destroyed first loses.

Sacrifice 1cc

Destroy a friendly Minion. Add 4 Strange Matter to your reserves.

Scale Passive

Your Keeper can move onto or off of Walls. If a Wall underneath your Keeper is destroyed by an enemy Warrior, your Keeper falls unharmed, is unaffected by the Wall’s effect, and will give a Response if during your opponent’s turn.

Shockwave 2cc

For every Red Keeper Ability Card you have, deal 1 Damage to every space on the battlefield. This affects Warriors, LifeForces, Walls, Bombs, Markers, and any other battlefield object that can receive or be affected by Damage. Shockwave is not an Attack and does not grant Responses. All Shockwave Damage is applied simultaneously.

Slowdown 2cc

Until the end of your third turn, each Warrior may move no more than 1 total space per turn. Forced Movement and Placement do not count.

Snipe 1cc

Attack for 1 Damage up to 3 Range.

Sprint 3cc

Grant a Warrior of your choice +3 Speed for 1 action during this turn.

Steadfast 2cc

After activation, until your Keeper moves or is moved, enemy Minion Attacks cannot damage your Keeper. Any Attack attempts still grant a Response to your Keeper.

Stealth Active

Your Keeper masks its movement by placing Markers in available movement spaces, including its current location. Your Keeper’s location will be revealed by enemy Vision or if your Keeper moves, attacks, or is attacked by another Warrior or if a Warrior attempts to occupy the Keeper’s hidden space. The Keeper receives a Response if an enemy Warrior attempts to occupy the Keeper’s hidden space during the opponent’s turn.

Strafe Passive

Your Keeper can move and attack diagonally.

Strength Passive

Your Keeper gains 1 Strength.

Stun Active

Your Keeper may immobilize an enemy Warrior within 2 Range until the beginning of your next turn.

Subdued 2cc

Neither Keeper can activate CC Abilities until a Keeper dies.

Tar 2cc

Immobilize the enemy Guardian until the end of the enemy Keeper’s second turn.

Tax Passive

Choose one of the enemy Keeper’s CC Ability Cards. The enemy Keeper must pay you 1 Strange Matter to activate that Ability. If the taxed player cannot pay 1 Strange Matter when attempting to activate the chosen card, that activation cannot occur.

Toughen Event

Your Keeper’s maximum Health is set to 7. Heal your Keeper to maximum Health.

Truce 2cc

No Damage can be dealt or received until the end of your third turn.

Veto Event

Choose one of the enemy Keeper’s Ability Cards from their Ability Row, Cooldown Field, or private hand. If choosing from their private hand, choose blindly without revealing the card. The chosen Ability cannot be used for the rest of the game.

Vision Passive

Your Keeper reveals all hidden enemy Markers within a 1-space radius.

Void Event

Place a Void on any unoccupied space. A Void destroys anything that moves or is moved onto it. Void does not count as an obstacle for Leapfrog.

Vulnerable Passive

The enemy Keeper respawns with only half of its maximum Health. If odd, round up.

Wall Builder 2cc

Place a Wall in any unoccupied space.

Weaken Passive

The enemy Guardian’s Strength is reduced by 1.

Wounded Runner Passive

When at 1 Health, your Keeper’s base Speed is 3.

Ability Row & Cooldown RulesThe 7-card Ability Row, buying from the Shared Hand, the Cooldown Field, and what Veto, Tax, and Subdued do to a card.

Keeper Ability Cards are a deck of 70 unique cards purchased during the game for 5 Strange Matter each, from either the private hand or the shared hand.

Ability Row

Each player has an Ability Row with 7 slots — the maximum number of Keeper Ability Cards a player may own. A newly purchased card fills an empty slot. If the Ability Row is full, the player cannot purchase any other Ability Cards. A card in the Cooldown Field still counts toward the 7-card limit. A Vetoed card also still counts.

Replacing Cards

Keeper Ability Cards are never swapped out of the Ability Row. Once a card reaches your Ability Row it holds that slot for the rest of the match — whether it is available, cooling down in the Cooldown Field, or Vetoed — and nothing you buy later removes it. That is why a full Ability Row simply blocks further Ability Card purchases: there is no card to trade away to make room.

Buying From the Shared Hand

The Shared Hand holds 3 Keeper Ability Cards that either player may purchase, at the same 5 Strange Matter as a private hand card. A player whose Ability Row already holds 7 cards cannot purchase from the Shared Hand, because that player cannot purchase any Keeper Ability Card at that point.

In Calculated, a Shared Hand purchase is a swap. You take the Shared Hand card and give up one of your own unpurchased private hand cards, which moves into the Shared Hand in its place. Only unpurchased private hand cards may be given up — a card already sitting in your Ability Row can never be given up, and neither can a Vetoed card, because a Vetoed card sits in the Ability Row rather than the private hand. Because a card leaves your private hand as a card arrives, the Shared Hand always holds 3 cards and nothing is drawn from the Ability Deck to refill it, so your total number of purchasable cards never increases. The card you gave up may then be bought by either player, including you. A player with no unpurchased private hand cards left has nothing to give up and cannot purchase from the Shared Hand.

In Chaotic, there is no swap. A Shared Hand purchase adds that card to your Ability Row, and the Shared Hand is then refilled to 3 cards from the Ability Deck.

In Quickplay, Private, or Practice — including matches using Sandbox or other testing settings — Shared Hand behavior follows whichever card setup style that match selected.

Card Categories

Keeper Ability Cards use five categories: Passive, Active, Event, Ultimate, and CC. Passive, Active, and Event are separate categories, and a card belongs to exactly one of them.

Passive cards are always active after purchase and stay in the Ability Row. Active cards cost an action to use and stay in the Ability Row. Event cards resolve their effect when they are purchased and then stay in the Ability Row. Ultimate Abilities are once-per-game Keeper Abilities chosen during setup — they are not purchased and do not occupy an Ability Row slot. CC cards cost an action to activate and are then placed into the Cooldown Field.

Veto does not reach backwards. It disables future use and ongoing effects only; anything already completed stays completed — Health already changed, Damage already dealt, Warriors already moved or placed, Strange Matter already transferred, and CC activations that already resolved. Vetoing Affliction does not restore the Guardian’s Health, and Vetoing Casters does not undo the activations it caused or restart the turn it ended.

Portal and Void are the exceptions, and only in one narrow way: Vetoing them removes their objects from the battlefield. Even then, movement and destruction that already resolved through them are not undone.

CC Cards and the Cooldown Field

A CC card may be 1cc, 2cc, or 3cc — the number tells how many separate CC cards must be placed above it in the Cooldown Field to cool it down. A CC card begins in the Ability Row; activating it for 1 action resolves its effect, then places it at the top of the Cooldown Field. Each new activation is placed above the cards already there, advancing the cooldown of cards below. A card’s own placement never counts toward its own cooldown.

A CC card returns to the Ability Row once enough separate CC cards stack on top of it.

Card Cooldown

A 1cc card cools down once 1 separate CC card is above it, a 2cc card once 2 are above it, and a 3cc card once 3 are above it. A cooled-down card may return to the Ability Row for no action cost, or remain in the Cooldown Field to keep counting toward cards beneath it. If several cool down at once, the owner chooses which to return and in what order.

What Veto Can Target

Veto may choose an enemy card in the Ability Row or the Cooldown Field, or — blindly — an unpurchased card in the enemy private hand. Whichever it takes becomes a disabled purchased card occupying an Ability Row slot, at no Strange Matter cost to its owner, and it can never afterwards be given up in a Shared Hand swap.

Private-hand cards are legal targets only while that player still has fewer than 7 purchased cards. Once all 7 slots are filled, only those 7 purchased cards may be Vetoed — anything left in the private hand is out of reach.

Vetoed, Taxed & Subdued

A CC card cannot be activated if Subdued, Veto, or an unpayable Tax prevents it. Vetoing a CC card that is sitting in the Cooldown Field takes it out of the Cooldown Field and returns it to the Ability Row, where it holds its slot for the rest of the match but can never be activated again. The cards still cooling down close the gap it leaves, and the Vetoed card no longer counts toward the cooldown of the cards beneath it. Tax requires paying 1 extra Strange Matter to activate the chosen card; if unpayable, the activation cannot occur. Subdued stops all CC activations until a Keeper dies.

Reset, Hyperdrive & Casters

Reset returns a card from the Cooldown Field to the Ability Row, making it available again without undoing the effect it already resolved. Hyperdrive activates up to two CC cards in chosen order, then is placed on top of them in the Cooldown Field. Casters resolves its required CC activations, placing each into the Cooldown Field to cool down normally.

Duplicate & Timed Effects

Duplicate ongoing effects from the same CC Ability do not stack unless the card explicitly says otherwise. A new activation may still resolve immediate portions of the effect and change Cooldown Field positioning. An effect that lasts “until the beginning of the user’s next turn” ends immediately when that turn begins.

End Your Turn

If an effect tells you to end your turn while it is not your turn, that instruction has no effect. Resolve the rest of the effect normally.

Game Modes & Spectating

The gamemodes, Sandbox, and spectating.

Game ModesQuickplay, Private, and Practice — plus Sandbox, which is a setting rather than a mode.

A Gamemode is a category of play. There are three main player-facing types: Quickplay, Private, and Practice.

Sandbox is not a standalone gamemode. It is an optional testing and rules modifier that can be switched on inside supported match types when the selected settings allow it.

Quickplay

Standard matchmaking for regular matches. It may be Calculated or Chaotic, it has customizable settings, it will use win/loss data to match players fairly, and it will use a hierarchy to determine who goes first.

Private

Passcode-protected rooms so only players with the passcode can join. May allow custom settings including card setup, first-player rules, and timers. Intended for custom matches between specific players.

Practice

Lets a player play against a bot, using standard match rules unless a Practice setting changes them. Sandbox and other testing options may be available within Practice settings.

SpectateWatching live Quickplay matches, private matches by room code, and replaying finished games.

Spectate lets players watch live Quickplay matches, watch a private match they have the room code for, and replay completed matches. It is a way to learn from other matches and review your own games without revealing private information or interfering with gameplay.

Matches That Cannot Be Spectated

Practice matches cannot be spectated, because they are played against a bot. Private matches are never listed publicly, but a player who knows the room code can watch one while it is live.

Accessing Spectate

A Spectate button is available from the main menu, and the Spectate page has these tabs:

• Live Matches — Quickplay matches happening right now.
• Private Matches — enter the room code of a live private match to watch it.
• My Matches — your own completed matches, replayable at any time.

The My Matches list shows the date, the enemy player’s name and rank, whether you won or lost, both players’ factions, and which gamemode the match was played in, sorted most-recent first.

Live Spectate Mode

Live Spectate shows the match from Player 1’s perspective. A spectator cannot take any gameplay action. Hidden information stays hidden unless revealed through normal gameplay — including hidden Markers, Bombs, stealthed Warriors, and private hands.

Finished Match Spectating

Finished matches open as replays rather than live views. A replay plays the archived match back from a spectator’s seat: no action can be taken, and information that was never revealed during the match stays hidden. Replays include Move History, which shows events by turn — the turn owner, action type, the Warrior or object involved, and a clear description. Normal actions are labeled Action 1, 2, or 3; Responses are labeled Enemy Response. A Spectate label stays visible in the upper left.

Glossary

Key terms used throughout the rules.

Ability Attack

An Attack caused by an Ability that explicitly says “Attack” or instructs the player to make an Attack.

Ability Row

The 7 slots where Ability Cards are placed after purchase. This row defines the maximum number of Keeper Ability Cards a player may have active or available.

Action

The capability to Attack, Move, Use Strange Matter, purchase items, use an Ability, or perform another legal game function.

Assembly

The pool of Minions not currently on the Battlefield.

Attack

The standard Attack action, including Melee and Ranged Attacks, or an Ability effect that explicitly says “Attack.” Damage, Health loss, Destroy effects, forced movement, and Wall effects are not Attacks just because they harm a Warrior.

Attribute

A value used by Actions or effects. The main Attributes are Strength, Range, Health, and Speed.

Base

The initial value of an Attribute before modifiers are applied.

Battlefield Damage

Damage caused by a battlefield effect rather than an Attack — traps, bombs, explosions, collisions, Wall effects, failed forced movement, and similar. Battlefield Damage does not grant Responses.

Board

The 7×7 grid playing area. Columns are lettered A to G and rows are numbered 1 to 7, with one fixed address per space. See Board Layout for the row names, starting positions, and placement geometry.

Card Cooldown

Also called CC. The cooldown system used by certain Keeper Ability Cards. CC cards must be activated, placed in the Cooldown Field, and cooled down before they can be used again.

Cooldown Field

The area where Card Cooldown Ability Cards are placed after use.

Damage

An amount applied to Health. Damage is what an effect deals or a Warrior receives; it is not an Attribute. Damage may be prevented, reduced, redirected, replaced, or otherwise modified by effects that interact with Damage.

Destroy

To remove a Warrior, Wall, LifeForce, or other object through a health-independent effect rather than by dealing Damage. Destroy effects are not Attacks. See Destroyed.

Destroyed

Removed from the Battlefield. Only Warriors draw the Killed/Destroyed distinction: a Warrior is Destroyed when an effect removes it without reducing its Health to 0, which is mechanically different from being Killed. A Destroyed Warrior generates no normal death Strange Matter, loses any Strange Matter or Loot it possesses instead of dropping it, and does not trigger effects that read “when killed” — unless that effect says otherwise. Walls, LifeForces, Bombs and other objects are simply said to be destroyed when they are removed or reduced to 0 Health.

Direct Health Loss

Health removed without dealing Damage. Direct Health loss is not Damage and is not prevented by effects that prevent Damage, unless the effect specifically addresses direct Health loss.

Economy

The pool of Strange Matter available to be collected or returned during gameplay.

Effect Duration

When an effect lasts a stated number of a player’s turns, count only turns belonging to the player who activated or controls that duration. If it was activated during that player’s own turn, the current turn is Turn 1; if activated during the opposing player’s turn, that player’s next turn is Turn 1. So “until the end of your third turn” ends at the end of that player’s third counted turn.

End Your Turn

If an effect tells you to end your turn when it is not your turn, that instruction has no effect. Resolve the rest of the effect normally.

Forced Movement

Movement or repositioning imposed on a Warrior by another Warrior or effect rather than by its own Move — a push or displacement, such as the pushed Warrior during Ram. Teleport, Deliver, respawn, and summon are Placement rather than movement.

Graveyard

The pool of previously summoned Minions that are no longer on the Battlefield.

Heal

To increase a Warrior’s current Health not to exceed its maximum Health.

Health

The amount of Damage a Warrior, LifeForce, Wall, Bomb, or other applicable game object can sustain before reaching 0 Health.

Inflict

To cause Damage without making an Attack. Inflicted Damage is Battlefield Damage and does not grant a Response.

Killed

A Warrior is Killed when its Health reaches 0. A Kill is a health-based death event: the Warrior leaves its normal Strange Matter on the space where it died and drops any Loot it was carrying, then is removed as death cleanup. Removal does not turn the Kill into a Destroy. Effects that read “when killed” trigger only from a Kill.

Last Stand

The state the match enters when both LifeForces reach 0 at the same time. Both LifeForces are removed, both Guardians are immediately Unchained, and play continues until a Keeper is removed by either a Kill or a Destroy event — the first player whose Keeper is removed loses. If both Keepers were already removed when it began, each returns for one final respawn beside its former LifeForce; none respawn after that. If both Keepers are removed at the same time during the Last Stand, the player whose turn it currently is loses.

Leap

To move through or over a space and end in a space beyond it.

Loot

Strange Matter carried on the Battlefield, or produced when a Warrior is Killed. Loot may be carried by a non-Keeper Warrior and collected by a Keeper into that player’s Reserves.

Melee Attack

An Attack caused when a Warrior attacks an adjacent target in a direction it is allowed to attack.

Move

Voluntary movement that uses a movement action or an effect that says the unit moves.

Obstacle

A solid object that blocks normal movement and may be leapt over by Leapfrog. Walls and Warriors are obstacles. Void and Portals are not obstacles for Leapfrog.

Passive

A Keeper Ability Card whose effect is always on while it sits in the Ability Row. A Passive is never activated and never enters the Cooldown Field. Active and Event cards do not use Card Cooldown either.

Placement

A unit being put directly into a legal space without moving through intervening spaces. Deliver, Teleport, respawn, summon, and marker-overlap resolution are forms of Placement. Placement must satisfy the destination rules for the Warrior being placed; a Portal, Void, or Wall may be a legal destination when that Warrior can legally occupy or resolve that space.

Radius

An area measured outward from a chosen space. A radius includes diagonal spaces.

Range

The number of spaces a Warrior can attack in a direction that Warrior is allowed to move. Warriors normally attack cardinally; a Warrior that may move diagonally, such as through Strafe, may also attack diagonally.

Ranged Attack

An Attack caused when a Warrior attacks a target within Range beyond melee distance. Ranged Attacks may target Warriors, LifeForces, Markers, and Bombs. Walls cannot be attacked with Ranged Attacks.

Reserves

The collection of Strange Matter under a player’s control.

Respawn

The process of returning a Keeper to the Battlefield after it is Killed or Destroyed, if its LifeForce survives. The Keeper is placed according to Keeper respawn priority.

Response

An action granted to a Warrior during the opposing player’s turn after one of three Response triggers: surviving an Attack from an enemy Warrior, falling because an enemy destroyed the Wall beneath it, or being revealed from Stealth because an enemy attempts to occupy its space. A player cannot take a Response during their own turn. A Warrior may receive at most one Response from a single simultaneous event, even if more than one trigger occurs in it.

Resurrect

To summon a Minion from the Graveyard rather than from the Assembly.

Reveal

To uncover a hidden Marker and show what it represents.

Set

To replace the current value with the stated value. A Set effect overwrites the previous value rather than adding to or subtracting from it. When a timed effect that set a value expires, the value returns to the most recent value set by an effect that has not expired, or to the Warrior’s Base value if none remains. Changing maximum Health does not change current Health unless the effect says it does.

Speed

The number of spaces a Warrior may move through when taking a Move action.

Stealth-Reveal Response

A Response granted during the opposing player’s turn when an enemy Warrior attempts to occupy the space of a hidden stealthed Warrior, causing it to be revealed.

Strange Matter

A mysterious material used as currency and to fuel purchases or abilities.

Strength

The Attribute that determines the Damage dealt by a Warrior’s normal Attack. A Warrior with 2 Strength deals 2 Damage with a normal Attack. Card and Ability text that grants or reduces this Attribute uses the word Strength; text describing Damage being dealt or received uses the word Damage. Where the interface displays this Attribute as DMG, DMG is Strength.

Summon

To place a Minion from the Assembly or Graveyard onto a legal space allowed by the effect causing the summon.

Summoning Sickness

The state of a Minion on the turn it enters the Battlefield. A Minion that is summoned, purchased, revived, or resurrected cannot Move, Attack, use its Abilities, switch places, or hand off Loot for the remainder of that turn. It becomes usable at the beginning of its controller’s next turn. Summoning Sickness does not protect the Minion; it may still be attacked, damaged, destroyed, or repositioned by an effect.

Teleport

To instantly move between legal spaces without moving through the spaces in between.

Unavoidable

A modifier meaning that Damage or Health loss cannot be prevented, reduced, redirected, or replaced. It does not decide whether a Response happens.

Voluntary Movement

Movement a Warrior performs through its controller’s choice to move it. Normal movement, switching places, Leapfrog, and the ramming Warrior’s own advance during Ram are voluntary movement. Forced Movement and Placement are not. Movement restrictions apply to voluntary movement unless their text also restricts forced movement.

Wall-Fall Response

A Response granted during the opposing player’s turn when an enemy Warrior destroys a Wall underneath a Warrior, causing it to fall. This is not an Attack.

Rules current as of app version 0.0.30 · Maverick Masterminds LLC